gigantomachy

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English

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Alternative forms

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek Γιγαντομαχία (Gigantomakhía), from Γίγας (Gígas, “giant”) + μάχη (mákhē, “battle”) + -ια (-ia). Compare Titanomachy, Typhonomachy, centauromachy.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /d͡ʒaɪɡænˈtɒməki/

Noun

gigantomachy (countable and uncountable, plural gigantomachies)

  1. (Greek mythology) The battle of the Giants (offspring of Gaia, according to Hesiod conceived from the spilt blood of Uranus) against the Olympian gods.
    • 1995, Susan B. Matheson, Polygnotos and Vase Painting in Classical Athens, University of Wisconsin Press, page 234:
      Here we will examine Amazonomachies, Gigantomachies, and Centauromachies; the Trojan War will be discussed in Chapter 7.
    • 2006, Ken Dowden, Zeus‎, Taylor & Francis (Routledge), page 38:
      You often see the Gigantomachy in the sculptural decoration of Archaic temples: the statement of the authority of the gods, made by the temple itself, is reinforced by the myth told upon it.
    • 2014, J. J. Pollitt, “Art, ancient attitudes to”, in Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth, Esther Eidinow, editors, The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, page 83:
      First, beginning in the 5th cent. BC, the line between religious and commemorative-political art became blurred as traditional subjects were blurred to convey political meanings (e.g. the Amazonomachy, the Gigantomachy; see AMAZONS, GIANTS).
  2. (by extension) Any battle envisaged as being waged by giants against gods or against an established universal order.
    • 1974, Joseph Eddy Fontenrose, Python: A Study of Delphic Myth and Its Origins, Biblo & Tannen, page 56:
      Giant and dragon interchange as opponents of god or hero in folklore; in the gigantomachies we have evidence of their near-identity.
    • 2018, Clare Coombe, Claudian the Poet, Cambridge University Press, page 95:
      Beginning with the presentation of the giants in c.m. 53, supported by the Greek Gigantomachia and the recurring giant theme from the De Raptu Proserpinae, it is then possible to analyse the construction of the Visigothic leader Alaric to demonstrate the way in which he, in particular, is depicted as a monster figure and his assault on Roman land as a new gigantomachy. […] To write a gigantomachy is to engage with a long tradition associated with the theme.

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